By Ray Bradbury

What do you already know about bombs and nuclear warfare in America in the 1950’s?

 The short story was originally published in 1950 in The Martian Chronicles  During this time in the United States, people were especially fearful of nuclear weapons. “The development of the atomic bomb will end all war or all men”

Science fiction became a popular genre for film and text. Fear of both nuclear war, and explosions of technology contributed widely to the plot themes of many types of media.

 The poem that occurs in the story is a real poem, written by Sara Teasdale in the 1920s.  She manages to convey a sense of detachment: The earth does not know, or care, that mankind has come and gone. Disturbing picture of indifference. Post-apocalypse setting inspired by WWI.

 The setting is the time and location at which a story takes place.  EXAMPLE: What is the setting of Harry Potter… PRESENT DAY HOGWARTS

 August 4, 2026  Post-Apocalyptic (after nuclear war) California Deserted neighborhood Everyone and everything is dead A family home Technology is the only thing still “alive” here

 Synonymous phrases: The moral of the story Author’s purpose for writing Lesson learned  What a story is about can sometimes be called a topic. A theme is a statement about a topic. It needs to provide some sort of a moral or lesson. For example: Topic: love Thematic Statement: love can withstand any obstacle  For “TWCSR”… Topic: many options- technology, nature, nuclear war, progress, etc. Theme: you will need to decide this for yourselves after reading!

 The trickiest term we will learn all year. Very slippery idea: even Ms. G gets confused sometimes!  See your irony handout for definitions and examples

 Irony Handout Life of Brian Alanis Morsette

 Situational Irony Atomic Bomb: we (man) created the bomb to keep us safe, when the OPPOSITE result was achieved. In the end, the bomb destroyed man-kind. Silhouettes: the silhouettes of the family charred on the side of the house are described as very calm and peaceful (flowers, gardening, playing, etc.) when really, their deaths were violent, sudden, and dramatic. Technology: the same technology which created a house that can cook and clean is also the technology which destroyed all the people on the planet.  Furthermore, it is ironic that such a sophisticated example of technology, the computerized house, can be destroyed by nature, represented by the tree limb which crashes through the window and starts the fire.